KR19990087810A - How to fold up absorbent articles - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is a method of collectively folding an absorbent article consisting of an absorbent body (1) enclosed between a rear portion (5), a whole portion (4), a middle crotch portion (6) and a casing sheet (2, 3), such as a diaper or incontinence guard. It is about. According to the invention, the part protruding to the side of the article is folded inwardly so that the article is rectangular in shape, and then at least the outer part of the front and rear portions 5, 4 of the article is folded towards the crotch portion 6. The present invention further relates to packaging a batch of absorbent articles folded in bulk and a bundle of absorbed articles folded in batch.

Description

How to fold up absorbent articles

Absorbent articles of this kind are usually folded twice before being folded and wrapped together to form a rectangle. The drawback of folding the articles in this way is that folding occurs at the crotch portion of the article, which is often the most sensitive part of the absorbent body. After the articles have been folded in batches, the articles are bundled and compressed to reduce the volume of the bundles before placing the bundles in a bag or packaging unit made of flexible material. This compression significantly reduces the volume of the bundle of articles. The goods thus packaged take up much less travel and storage space than if they were not compressed. However, the compressed packaged articles attempt to return to their original thickness so that they exert a relatively large pressure on the walls of the package and against each other. The pressure exerted by the articles so packaged can make it difficult to remove the first article from the package. This problem has traditionally been solved by installing a relatively large cut in one wall of the package; See, for example, EP-A2-0,349,050 and EP-BI-0,554,411. Removal of this relatively large cut leaves a large opening through which portions of the folded articles can be opened, since expansion of these portions of the articles can no longer be prevented by the package. Thus, an unpacked package requires more space than an unopened package. It is an object of the present invention to provide a packaging unit for compressed absorbent articles which eliminates the above drawbacks and enables the articles to be fully preserved and to be easily taken out even when the package is opened.

The present invention relates to a method for collectively folding an absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence guard, comprised of an absorbent body enclosed between the rear, all, middle crotch portions, and the surrounding casing sheet. The present invention also relates to a package consisting of a batch of folded articles and a compressed bundle of such folded articles.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 4 are schematic diagrams showing different steps of collectively folding a diaper according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the diaper shown in FIG. 4; FIG.

6 and 7 schematically show the introduction of a bundle of diapers collectively folded in a packaging unit according to a first embodiment of the invention;

8 is a schematic perspective view of an open packaging unit;

9 to 12 are schematic side views with one wall removed and showing another step of removing the diaper from the opened packaging unit;

Fig. 13 shows an end wall provided with an opening forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

These objects are achieved by a method of the kind defined in the introduction according to the invention and folding inwardly the protruding parts of the articles so that the articles are rectangular and then the outer part of the whole and the rear parts of the articles with their crotch portions. Fold inward, at least in the longitudinal direction of the article.

In a preferred embodiment of the method, only the portion of the casing material outside of the absorbent body is folded towards the crotch portion of the article.

The invention also relates to a bulky absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence guard, consisting of an absorbent body enclosed between the back, the entire, the middle crotch portion, and the surrounding casing sheet, wherein the article has both the crotch portion and the back portion. Folding inward toward, at least in the longitudinal direction of the article; And the absorbent body remains unfolded in the crotch portion. By folding at least the outer and outer portions of the articles inward toward the crotch portion, the upper and lower portions of the collectively folded articles remain in a straight line regardless of the outer contour of the front and rear of the article, while at the same time the absorbent body also It will remain in its original unaltered state.

In a preferred embodiment, at least one of the front and rear portions of the article has an outer edge portion of the casing material located outside of the absorbent body, the outer edge portion being another portion of the front and rear portions of the article with the article folded in a batch. Overlap with

The invention also provides a flexible packaging unit for accommodating at least one compressed bundle of absorbent articles, such as diapers or incontinence guards, including absorbers enclosed between the rear, all, middle crotch portions, and surrounding casing sheets. The articles are folded so that the outer and rear parts of the front and the rear are folded at least in the longitudinal direction towards the crotch and face each other in one and the same direction, the packaging unit enclosing the bundle or pile of articles Generally having a parallelepiped shape comprising a top, a bottom two opposing sidewalls and an opposing end wall and a packaging unit opening device allowing the unit to be opened for the article to be taken out, wherein the packaging unit is a packaging unit opening device At the bundle side to An opening forming portion on the end wall, wherein the opening forming portion extends in parallel with the front and rear edges of the front and rear portions of the folded article inwardly and is moved from the end wall surface, when the opening forming portion is moved from the end wall surface. And a position and a width such that at least one outer edge of the front and rear of the article is exposed.

In a preferred embodiment, at least one of the front and rear portions of the article comprises an outer edge portion in the longitudinal direction of the casing material located in the outward direction of the absorbent body, wherein the edge portion is at the top of the front and rear portions of the article in the folded state of the article. The portions overlap and the opening forming portion extends along an edge of the outer edge portion of the casing material. The opening forming part is two mutually parallel fragile lines with a minimum width of 10 mm and a maximum width corresponding to 33% of the length of the collectively folded article and extending beyond the full width of the end wall from one wall to the other. Is defined. The parallel weak line extends slightly to the side wall and another weak line is installed on one of the side walls, between the ends of the parallel weak line.

Figure 1 shows the diaper as above, to which the present invention can be conveniently applied. The diaper shown comprises an hourglass-shaped absorbent body 1 surrounded by two similarly shaped casing materials 2, 3 joined together along an outwardly lying portion of the absorbent body 1. The lateral extension of the front and rear parts 4, 5 of the diaper is larger than the extension of the middle crotch portion 6. The diaper also includes elastic yarns or bands 9, 10 along the long edges of the sides 7, 8 and the crotch portion. The sides 7, 8 serve to stabilize the three-dimensional shape of the diaper when in use and these sides are preferably deformed as little as possible when packaging the diaper after manufacture.

It will be noted that the direction of extension of the entire back of the diaper is determined by the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article regardless of whether the article is folded in a batch and whether the lateral extension is greater than the longitudinal extension.

The diaper shown in FIG. 1 is in a packaged state, that is, in a folded state by folding the parts of the casing sheet that are outward to the sides of the side parts 7 and 8 with respect to the central part of the diaper. FIG. 2 shows the shape of the diaper after folding and folding the left side of the casing material while FIG. 3 shows the rectangular shape of the diaper after folding and folding the right side of the sheet.

According to the invention, the entirety of the article 4 is first positioned towards the crotch portion 6 and then immediately located at a specified point where the rear portion 5 extends in the outer longitudinal direction of the sides 7, 8. It is folded along the transverse fold lines A and B. Then, the diaper has the shape shown in each of the side views of FIGS. 4 and 5. The portion or sides 7, 8 of the absorber 1 in the crotch portion will also not be affected by folding the diaper together. A collectively folded diaper of the type shown in FIG. 1 is indicated by reference numeral 11 in FIGS. 4 and 5.

Of course, the collective folding of the diaper in accordance with the present invention can be achieved by folding the back of the diaper before the entire diaper is folded.

The folding process may be applied to other types of absorbent articles where for one reason or another the crotch portion of the absorbent remains in its original unfolded or includes a central unfolded portion.

In the arrangements shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the front and back edges folded inward of the absorbent body 1 are adjacent to each other, ie touching each other. However, instead, the edge portions of the absorbent bodies can be folded inward to space each other. For example, this latter alternative may be appropriate when the portion of the diaper that is desired to remain unfolded after folding the diaper in batches is affected by the collective folding with the inward folded edges of the absorber placed edge to edge. .

In addition, in general, in order to obtain a package of parallel hexahedral articles, it is convenient for the absorber to collectively package the article of which the outer contour is curved at the whole and / or the rear of the main body according to the present invention.

6 and 7 schematically show the packaging of a bundle of diapers 11 which are collectively folded in the arrangements shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In the illustration of FIG. 6, the diaper bundles were compressed by holding the bundles between the arms of the tightening tool and moving the arms towards each other until the bundles were compressed to the desired degree. The volume of the compressed diaper bundle will be half the volume of the bundle before compression. The compression of the bundle of diapers 11 is shown by hollow arrows in FIG. 6.

The compressed bundle of diapers 11 is inserted in any suitable way; For example, with the aid of the tightening mechanism described above, it is inserted into the packaging unit 12 through the opened bottom as indicated by the dark arrows in FIG. 6. The open bottom of the packaging unit 12 is now closed and sealed by ultrasonic bonding or thermal bonding, or by an adhesive when the casing material is in contact possible to obtain a parallel hexagonal package. This closed packaging unit 12 is shown in FIG. 7. The packaging unit 12 includes a top 13, a bottom or bottom 14, two mutually opposite sidewalls 15 and only two mutually opposite end walls 16, 17 shown in FIGS. 6-8. Have The bundle of diapers 11 introduced in the packaging unit presses the end walls 16, 17 and the side walls 15 are thereby subjected to a force acting in the direction of the double arrow in FIG. 7. Two parallel cut lines 18, 19 extend across the end wall 16 and also slightly to the side wall 15. The cutout line 20 also extends between the ends of the cutout lines 18, 19 along the sidewall 15 facing the observer of FIG. 7. Three tear lines 18-20 together define the tear strip 21.

8 and 9 show the packaging unit 12 with the strip 21 tearing off the end wall 16 to open the package. The strip 21 remains properly connected to the side wall which cannot be seen in the figure. The openings created by tearing the strips 21 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are located opposite the end edges 22 of the rear, which are currently folded inwardly of the first diaper 11 in the bundle. As a result of the compressive force acting on the diaper, the end edge will be pressed through the opening and will be retractable by the user.

Removing the diaper from the opened package 12 is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 9-12. The diaper 11 is taken out of the package by grasping the end edge 22 accessible through the opening and by pulling down the end edge as indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 9 and 10. When the top of the diaper is pulled out of the package, the direction in which the diaper is pulled out of the package changes conveniently as indicated by the arrow in FIG. It has been found that taking out the first diaper from the packaging unit of the present invention is easier than taking it out of a known packaging unit in which the diaper is displayed in a fan-shaped arrangement.

12 shows the package 12 after removing the first diaper 11 from the diaper bundle. As will be seen from this figure, the package has the same appearance as before the first diaper was removed, due to the slight expansion of the remaining diapers filling the empty space left by the first diaper being taken out. However, the pressure on the end walls 16 and 17 will decrease slightly.

In the case of the illustrated embodiment, the bundle of articles folded in a batch is inserted through the open bottom of the packaging unit and then the bottom is closed and sealed, but instead the bundle of diapers through the top of the packaging unit with the top open. It will be appreciated that it may be introduced. In this latter case, the article is taken out by pulling the first end edge upwards and then downwards in principle in the same manner as shown in these figures when the figures are inverted.

The width of the strip 21, ie the vertical extension of the strip as shown in the figures, can vary within relatively large limits. However, the strip 21 will preferably have a minimum width of 10 mm so that the end edge 22 can be easily grasped. The upper limit of the width of the strip is determined by the need to ensure that the diapers are securely held in the opened package and that the end wall 16 should be able to extend to some extent from the top and bottom of the package 12 without rupturing. it means. Thus, the highest width of the strip 21 should not exceed 33% of the vertical extension of the end wall 16.

Figure 13 shows a second embodiment of the packaging unit of the invention. The only difference between the packaging unit shown in Fig. 13 and the packaging unit shown in Figs. 6-12 is that the opening forming apparatus 21 'is different from the strip 21 of the embodiment shown in Figs. 6-8. The entire opening forming apparatus 21 ′ is disposed at the end wall 16 ′ of the packaging unit 12 ′ and parallel to the horizontal cutout 23 and the side wall of the packaging unit 12 ′ proximate the side edge of the end wall. It is defined by two vertical cut lines 24, 25 extending. When opening the device 21 ', two outwardly folded lids will be formed, between which the ends of the collectively folded article will pop out.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 13 may be modified in various ways. For example, a horizontal cut line 23 may extend between the top and bottom ends that are opposite of the vertical lines 24, 25. Moreover, vertical lines may be provided on the sidewalls similar to line 20 in FIGS. 6-8. In this regard, it will be appreciated that the line 20 may be provided on the end wall 16 similarly to the lines 24 and 25 instead of the side walls.

The opening obtained in the packaging unit has a width larger than 10 mm, suitably larger than 20 mm, conveniently larger than 30 mm and most preferably larger than 40 mm. Experiments have shown that a width of 50 mm is the most effective, and it is therefore desirable that the openings have a width of about 50 mm or a width corresponding to 33% of the length of the folded article, depending on the smallest of these dimensions.

It will be appreciated that the described and illustrated embodiments of the invention may vary within the scope of the inventive concepts, in particular in the shape or structure of the absorbent article. Moreover, other types of fragile lines than cut lines may be used to define the cut strips. The packaging unit may also include one or more bundles of articles horizontally adjacent to each other and / or stacked on each other. When the bundles are positioned horizontally adjacent to each other, the cut strips will be common in common to the mutually adjacent bundles and will facilitate the manufacture of such packaging units. Furthermore, the openable portion of the end wall may be provided at the openable end with a strap or the like to facilitate opening of the packaging unit. Accordingly, the invention is only limited by the content of the following claims.

Claims (12)

In a method of collectively folding an absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence guard, which consists of an absorbent body 1 enclosed between the rear part 5, the whole part 4, the middle crotch part 6, and the surrounding casing sheets 2, 3; In which the protruding part of the side of the article is folded inwardly so that the article is rectangular in shape, and then the at least longitudinal outer parts of the rear and the entire parts 5, 4 of the article are folded towards the crotch portion 6. How to. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that only a part of the casing material (2,3) lying outside of the absorbent body (1) is folded towards the crotch portion (6) of the article. In the collectively folded absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence guard, consisting of an absorbent body 1 enclosed between the rear part 5, the whole part 4, the middle crotch part 6, and the casing sheets 2, 3, the rear part and At least the longitudinal outer portions of the whole 5, 4 fold inwardly towards the crotch portion 6; The absorbent article of claim 1, wherein the absorbent body remains unfolded at the crotch portion of the article. 4. The article according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the entirety and the rear end (4, 5) of the article comprises an outer casing material edge portion in the longitudinal direction outward of the absorbent body (1) and said edge portion of the article being folded in a lump. A collectively folded absorbent article characterized by overlapping with the other part 4 of the whole or the rear part 4, 5. 4. The collectively folded absorbent article according to claim 3, wherein the front and rear edges of the article are folded and folded so that the front edge and the rear edge of the absorbent body are in contact with each other. Flexible packaging unit 12 for receiving at least one compressed bundle of absorbent articles 11, such as a diaper or incontinence guard, consisting of an absorbent body enclosed between the back, the whole, the middle crotch portion, and the casing sheet, all The articles are folded such that at least the longitudinal outer portions of the and rear portions are folded inwardly towards the crotch portion so as to face in the same direction in the bundle, wherein the packaging unit surrounds the bundle or bundles of the article 11 and essentially With a parallelepiped shape having an upper side 13, a lower side 14, two opposite sidewalls 15 and opposite end walls 16, 17 and an opening for allowing the article 11 to be taken out of the packaging unit. In the flexible packaging unit 12 having the forming device 21, the opening forming device faces the inward folded portions of the front and rear of the articles 11 at the bundle side. Consisting of an opening forming portion 21 of the subwall 16, wherein the opening forming portion 21 extends in parallel with the front and rear edges of all and the rear of the articles folded inwardly and the opening forming portion 21 is the end wall. Moveable from the plane of (16), wherein the opening formation has a width such that at least one outer edge 22 of the front or rear of the article is exposed when the opening forming portion 21 is moved from the end wall. Flexible packaging unit, characterized in that the part is located. 7. The longitudinal outer side of the casing material as claimed in claim 6, wherein at least one of all or the rear of the absorbent articles (11) overlaps with the part of the upper or the rear of the article in a folded state. Packaging unit comprising an edge portion, the opening forming portion (21) extending along the edge (22) of the outer edge portion of the casing material. 8. Packaging unit according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the opening forming portion (21) has a minimum width of 10 mm and a maximum width corresponding to 33% of the length of the folded article (11) as much as possible. 9. Two mutually parallel weakening lines 18 according to claim 6, wherein the opening forming portion 21 extends across the entire width of the end wall from one side wall 15 to the other side wall. , 19) packaging unit characterized in that. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the parallel lines of weakness (18, 19) extend slightly to the side walls (15); Another weak line (20) is a packaging unit, characterized in that installed in one of the side walls, between the ends of the weak line parallel to each other. 9. The first fragile line 23 according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the opening forming portion 21 'extends at least most of the width of the end wall 16' and the first fragility on both sides thereof. Packing unit, characterized in that defined by two mutually parallel second fragile lines (24,25) extending perpendicular to the line. 12. The opening according to any one of claims 6 to 11, characterized in that the entire opening forming portion (21 ') is located at the end wall (16') facing inwardly folded portions of all of the articles and backs of the bundle. Packaging unit.